In the Name of Ice Cream
by Magical Reality
Summary: It's a blistering hot day on Ember Island, leaving the Gang sweaty and inactive. What could possibly prompt them to get up? Story is much better than the summary!


**Hey all! I was bored and hot and all I could think of was ice cream. So here you go. Randomness geared to brighten your day!**

 **And if you like this, go ahead and check out some of my other stories.**

* * *

"Ugh! It's so hot!" complained Katara, fanning herself with her hand.

"I know," agreed Toph, who was sprawled out shamelessly on the ground.

The whole Gang was gathered on the front stairs of the beach house they were currently staying in. They had only been here for a few days and were still adjusting to the fiery weather of the Fire Nation. However, today was worse than any day they had encountered so far and Ember Island was showing them no mercy.

"I don't remember any of our family vacations here being this miserable," Zuko said from under the small amount shade of a tree.

Katara leaned backwards and supported herself with her arms. "Ya sure?"

Zuko frowned from where he was sitting. "Yes."

"We're in the Fire Nation you guys. We should just get used to it being hot," Sokka said nonchalantly, while sipping a chilled glass of lemonade.

"Says the boy who's lived on ice his whole life," muttered Suki, who was sitting beside the swordsman.

"Hey!"

Toph groaned loudly and sat up. "Well just lying around like this isn't gonna do anything."

Aang sighed and got to his feet. "Good point. Any suggestions?"

Everyone was silent. They had tried staying inside, but it wasn't any better. Not only was hot inside, but it was stuffy too. They decided they much rather have fresh air than be baked. Swimming had been suggested several times, but everyone felt that it was to tiring to lose some clothing and walk to the beach. They were pretty sure that the water wouldn't be very cold either.

"I'm to hot to think," Zuko muttered, crossing his arms.

Katara lifted an eyebrow. "You gonna rephrase that?" she asked with a grin.

He glared at her. "No. But you can."

"Sokka, can I have a sip of your lemonade?" asked Suki sweetly.

Sokka blushed and handed her the glass. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before taking a sip.

"Pass that over here when your done, Fan Girl," Toph said as she picked something out of between her toes and flicked it onto the ground.

Suki opened her mouth to reply, but Sokka snatched the drink out of his girlfriend's hand before she could say anything. "She just touched her feet! Don't hand it to her!" Sokka exclaimed, horrified.

Suki rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to Sokka."

"But you were thinking it!"

"Shut up!" Katara moaned, standing up and walking down the stairs of the front porch.

"Where are you going?" Sokka asked with a suspiciously raised eyebrow.

Katara had turned on them and was walking down the path that led to the small market that was just a fifteen minute walk from the house. "I'm going to go douse this awful heat a little."

"How?" Zuko asked, quirking and eyebrow.

"Ice cream."

Everyone was up and running after her to catch up. "Why didn't you say something? That's the perfect solution!" Zuko said, slightly chaffed.

"I didn't think you guys would wanna walk all the way to the market," Katara retorted.

"You thought wrong, Sugar Queen," Toph said.

Katara groaned and walked faster. Zuko noticed her new pace and walked faster. Toph felt their quickening vibrations and altered her pace as well. Katara's eyes flicked beside her to see that the firebender and earthbender had matched her pace and were gaining on her. She started to jog. They mimicked her. She jogged a bit faster. They did the same. Accepting the challenge with a smirk, Katara took off at full speed with Zuko and Toph at her heels.

"Hey!" Sokka called. "Why are they running?"

He looked at Aang with an expectant expression, but the airbender smirked and pulled out his glider. He opened it and began running. Half a second later, he was airborne. "See you two at the market!" Aang laughed as he lifted into the air.

"Not fair!" Sokka yelled.

Suki giggled beside him. "We'll get there. Don't worry," she said, taking his hand.

Sokka turned to look into her eyes. "But their all gonna get ice cream before us!" he shouted.

Suki gave his hand a small squeeze. "Well then we'll just have ours together."

Sokka blushed and his expression went from irritated to lovesick.

* * *

Katara was sprinting down the path as fast as she could. She could could hear her friend's pounding footsteps behind her. Suddenly, she felt the earth tremble beneath her moving feet. She looked behind her just in time to dodge Toph as she came hurtling forward on the moving rocks she had manipulated with her bending. In doing so, Katara had moved to the other side of the path that had not come to life. Both benders had been keeping up with her until one of them had decided to cheat. Zuko had been neck and neck with her and unfortunately for both of them, Katara had forgotten that little detail when she had moved out of Toph's way. Katara did a full body slam into Zuko, knocking both of them off their feet and onto the dirt path.

"What gives?" Zuko exclaimed, shoving the clumsy waterbender off of his legs.

Katara glared at him as she coughed dust out of her lungs. "She was kinda about to run me over!"

"That doesn't mean you have to run me over!"

"I didn't run you over!"

"Well you almost did!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Zuko smiled as soon as Katara realized her mistake. "All you had to do was admit it."

Katara pushed herself onto her feet. "Hothead."

"Water mouth."

"Flame face."

"Ice brains."

"Flame brain."

"Hey no copying!"

Katara crossed her arms across her chest. "I wasn't copying."

Zuko got to his feet as well. "Sure."

Katara growled and began walking. Zuko followed her and fell into step beside her. Neither said a word to each other, allowing a comfortable silence to fill the space. It also permitted them to hear the swoosh of Aang and his glider above their heads.

"Really, Aang?" Katara called up at him.

Aang turned and smiled at them. "Sorry guys! See ya there!"

Both scowled and trudged on with more determined steps.

* * *

"Glad to see you finally made it, Twinkle Toes," Toph said, as Aang alighted in front of her.

The earthbender was sitting at table in front of the ice cream place with her feet propped up on top of the table. To Aang's astonishment, she had a chocolate ice cream cone in her hand and was happily licking it.

Aang frowned. "How long have you been here?"

Toph held out her cone so Aang could see it. "Judging by how much ice cream I have left, what do you think?"

Aang groaned. "I don't know. Uh... five minutes?"

"Six to be precise."

"Six?"

"I can count."

Aang only sighed and then made his way to into the small building to retrieve his own ice cream.

* * *

"Finally!" Katara said as she and Zuko approached the ice cream place.

"That took longer than I thought it would," Zuko commented as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Sparky! Sugar Queen! Glad you made it!" Toph waved as the two approached.

"Hey guys!" called a cheery Aang.

Zuko and Katara were irritated by them getting here first, but they became angry when they saw the chocolate cones in their hands.

Katara walked up to Toph with murder shinning in her ice blue eyes. "Tomorrow. You. Me."

Toph got the message loud and clear. "Your on, Sweetness."

Zuko approached the happy Avatar. "Aang."

"Yeah?"

"Fifty extra for everything. Got it?"

Aang bit his lip. "Yeah," he said despairingly.

Zuko followed Katara inside, leaving Toph to plan her way for victory in tomorrow's sparring match and Aang to consider just how sore he was going to be after firebending training tomorrow.

* * *

"Ah, the suns going down!" Sokka complained.

"What's wrong with that? It's not blistering hot anymore," Suki asked.

"Now the ice cream won't be as enjoyable."

"Oh Sokka."

"Sokka! Suki! What took you so long?" Katara asked as the couple walked up to her and Zuko's table which was stationed next to Aang's and Toph's.

"We walked," Suki replied.

"Oh," Katara said.

"You guys better go grab some ice cream before they close," Zuko suggested, taking a lick from his swirl cone.

"Come on Sokka. I'll get vanilla just for you," Suki smiled.

"Better hurry. They didn't have much when we got our ice cream," Katara commented, holding up her own swirl cone.

A panicked expression took hold of Sokka's face and he grabbed Suki's wrist and dragged her into the building.

* * *

"That hit the spot," Toph said as the group headed back to the summer house together.

"You said it," Katara agreed, licking her lips.

"Good thinking Katara," Zuko said, patting the waterbender on her head.

Instantly, Katara's hand shot up and grabbed him by the wrist. "Do that again and you won't have a hand."

"I just hope we get back to the house before the sun goes down completely," Aang said, pointing to the sinking sun.

Suki sighed. "Sure is a pretty sunset though."

"Yeah," Katara agreed.

"Not as pretty as you," Sokka cooed to Suki.

The other four benders stuck out their tongues.

"This was fun. We should do it again tomorrow," Toph said, placing her hands behind her head.

Katara cocked an eyebrow. "Which part? The race or the actually ice cream?"

Toph was quiet for a moment. "Both."

Aang groaned. "Of course."

* * *

 **Hope you liked it and made ya smile. Please tell me what you thought if you have a moment. I would highly appreciate it. Bye for now!**


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